Or it could be said, "I don't know that anyone can know for sure that they are saved."
I've heard people say things like this my entire life. There was a time in my life when I thought the same thing.
As I meet with my amazing mentor, Kandy, this topic kind of keeps popping up and so I thought maybe, if nowhere else, I can address it here.
The two phrases in the title and the second line are false. We can know if we are saved or heaven-bound. First John 5:11-12 says, "And this is the testimony, God has given us eternal life and this life is found in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have eternal life."
Simply put, if you have chosen to believe in who Jesus said He was and still is today and you have received Him as your Savior and Lord...you have eternal life.
An illustration given by Kandy is...
If you ask someone if they are married they do not answer, "Well, I think I am" or "I'm pretty sure." They either say yes or they say no. They may be dealing with some issues within their marital relationship but they will know if they are or are not married. They know if they are still in a committed relationship bound by marriage.
The same with salvation. God's Word says there is no question. We are or we are not because we know if we have the Son or not. We may be dealing with some issues (aka working out our salvation) but we know whether we are or are not in a committed relationship. God is committed to us. He has been since before we existed.
So the only question left is...are we?
23 February 2010
18 February 2010
Last week I was a high school biology teacher. This week I was a fourth grade english/reading teacher. I am currently substituting in a school district in central Texas.
Prior to this job, I was substituting in a school district east of Houston. Yesterday I got fifteen (15) phone calls for jobs in the Houston area. Jobs in my area here, in central Texas, seem to be scarce although I did get two (2) calls yesterday.
Ordinarily I would be frustrated with the lack of jobs available. Lack of jobs = less chance at possible income.
But God has truly spoken to my heart lately. He has shown me that ALLLLLL that I have comes directly from His hand alone.
See, this time last year I was teaching and coaching full-time. That was my job which I worked at to provide for myself.
I had previously come to the conclusion that the money I made was really "God's money" and that the place I find myself in life is only by the grace of God. I acknowledged that the people in my life, the places I've been and the lessons I have learned are all gifts from God.
But the lesson has gone deeper, into my very being I'd like to think.
I willingly gave up my full-time teaching position to substitute, hoping to move to W. Africa by the end of spring. I spent last semester substituting and preparing for how/where God would lead me. I had a savings account that eased my conscience as I worked making less than a third of the income I previously made. But soon that savings was depleted.
And even though the savings were gone, the bills kept coming. At the same time I was trying to move from southeast Texas to central Texas and had to make trips to south Texas, east Texas and central Texas. It was crazy and exhausting!
Finally I found myself in Texas. I was exhausted in every aspect of life!!
Currently, I am sitting waiting on a job for tomorrow. But I don't see it as merely waiting for a job. I am waiting on God to provide. There was a job for 1/2 the day tomorrow but I did not want to take that in case there was an full-day job that came along.
So I prayed that God would provide and decided the next job available I would take no matter how long it was or what level. Before I could finish typing the paragraph above, God provided a full-day job as a second grade teacher! Praise the Lord for His provision!! I believe that the job I have tomorrow is truly a gift from God!
God is good. He is merciful. He is just, righteous and patient. He is faithful even when I am not.
I am learning that His grace is very real, not just an idea or concept. For it's by grace we have been saved through faith, and not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that none of us can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9 adapted)
I am learning that just as I am to wait on the Lord to provide a substitute job (sometimes I have to wait until 5:30 the day of), I am to wait on Him for all things.
He may not show me what capacity He wants me to serve until I am more ready to do so. He may not provide all the finances for Ghana until I am prepared in all ways to go.
A missionary to Kenya once told me that he realized that for years he had made a mistake. In reading Psalm 119:105 he interpreted it as "Thy word is a spotlight to my feet and a floodlight to my path." However, the verse says it is "a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
Think about carrying a kerosene lamp under the pitch black night sky. It sheds light but not near as much as a maglight or a floodlight would. In fact, with a kerosene lamp, you can't really see much ahead of you until you take another step and as you take that step a little more is revealed to you.
This is what I have learned in my faith. As I wait on God, He provides. As I wait on God, He reveals to me the next and not much more. And because I "actively wait" preparing for what may be in store, when the next step is revealed to me, I have been ready to take it.
So I will continue to work with story-telling, farming, discipling, and any other thing God puts before me so that when He says I am ready, I can take these tools and serve Him!!
So don't be disappointed that you're "floodlight" is only a lamp because it gives you a greater opportunity to trust and rely on God. Easier said that done, I know.
My love to all!! God bless!!
Prior to this job, I was substituting in a school district east of Houston. Yesterday I got fifteen (15) phone calls for jobs in the Houston area. Jobs in my area here, in central Texas, seem to be scarce although I did get two (2) calls yesterday.
Ordinarily I would be frustrated with the lack of jobs available. Lack of jobs = less chance at possible income.
But God has truly spoken to my heart lately. He has shown me that ALLLLLL that I have comes directly from His hand alone.
See, this time last year I was teaching and coaching full-time. That was my job which I worked at to provide for myself.
I had previously come to the conclusion that the money I made was really "God's money" and that the place I find myself in life is only by the grace of God. I acknowledged that the people in my life, the places I've been and the lessons I have learned are all gifts from God.
But the lesson has gone deeper, into my very being I'd like to think.
I willingly gave up my full-time teaching position to substitute, hoping to move to W. Africa by the end of spring. I spent last semester substituting and preparing for how/where God would lead me. I had a savings account that eased my conscience as I worked making less than a third of the income I previously made. But soon that savings was depleted.
And even though the savings were gone, the bills kept coming. At the same time I was trying to move from southeast Texas to central Texas and had to make trips to south Texas, east Texas and central Texas. It was crazy and exhausting!
Finally I found myself in Texas. I was exhausted in every aspect of life!!
Currently, I am sitting waiting on a job for tomorrow. But I don't see it as merely waiting for a job. I am waiting on God to provide. There was a job for 1/2 the day tomorrow but I did not want to take that in case there was an full-day job that came along.
So I prayed that God would provide and decided the next job available I would take no matter how long it was or what level. Before I could finish typing the paragraph above, God provided a full-day job as a second grade teacher! Praise the Lord for His provision!! I believe that the job I have tomorrow is truly a gift from God!
God is good. He is merciful. He is just, righteous and patient. He is faithful even when I am not.
I am learning that His grace is very real, not just an idea or concept. For it's by grace we have been saved through faith, and not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that none of us can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9 adapted)
I am learning that just as I am to wait on the Lord to provide a substitute job (sometimes I have to wait until 5:30 the day of), I am to wait on Him for all things.
He may not show me what capacity He wants me to serve until I am more ready to do so. He may not provide all the finances for Ghana until I am prepared in all ways to go.
A missionary to Kenya once told me that he realized that for years he had made a mistake. In reading Psalm 119:105 he interpreted it as "Thy word is a spotlight to my feet and a floodlight to my path." However, the verse says it is "a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
Think about carrying a kerosene lamp under the pitch black night sky. It sheds light but not near as much as a maglight or a floodlight would. In fact, with a kerosene lamp, you can't really see much ahead of you until you take another step and as you take that step a little more is revealed to you.
This is what I have learned in my faith. As I wait on God, He provides. As I wait on God, He reveals to me the next and not much more. And because I "actively wait" preparing for what may be in store, when the next step is revealed to me, I have been ready to take it.
So I will continue to work with story-telling, farming, discipling, and any other thing God puts before me so that when He says I am ready, I can take these tools and serve Him!!
So don't be disappointed that you're "floodlight" is only a lamp because it gives you a greater opportunity to trust and rely on God. Easier said that done, I know.
My love to all!! God bless!!
24 October 2009
Jesus as Lord and Savior vs. sin management
So I have happened upon and heart-breaking truth. This happened a few years back but recently all of my thoughts and experiences have kind of come together and I understand better now what I have been seeing.
When people ask when I accepted Jesus as my Savior I will tell them, “When I was five.” Then I will quickly add, “But I didn’t ask Him to be my LORD and Savior until I was 21. And I didn’t care to follow Him until then.” Please let me explain.
We see in Proverbs and in 2 Timothy how when a child is trained in the Lord’s ways he will always have that to come back to. My parents did a great job raising me in the church. I learned the Bible stories and I definitely had moments in which the Holy Spirit spoke into my life but I never reached a point to where I wanted to allow God to lead my life.
I left home to go to college and that was definitely a place for me to grow in my faith. I had an incredible godly young woman for a roommate who was such an encouragement and leader in the faith. I also had some very vocal godly professors. I attended church, read my Bible, and participated in “extracurricular God-stuff” but still only knew Jesus as a saving mechanism.
At the same time I said I was trusting Jesus as my Savior, I was seeking other ways to be validated whether it was through the people I was with, the activities I participated in, how well I did in classes…you name it. Nothing was fulfilling.
And one night in my dark little dorm room I fell on my knees weeping (for the first time in my life) and in between sobs cried out to God! Interestingly enough, I wasn’t crying out for Him to save me but to take my life and lead it. Guide it. Own it. That was the first moment in my life that I desired to declare Jesus as my Lord as well as my Savior.
My faith and my life have not been the same since! Not at all!
We all have sins that we struggle with. For me there were some that I just couldn’t rid my life of! I would hear sermons that would be encouraging and helpful in either strategizing how to abstain from participating or to confess and seek forgiveness.
In growing in my faith, I have been made aware of the fact that what I have been doing for so many years was trying to manage my sins- to lessen them, to speak them aloud, to hate them, and to fight them. And in managing my sins for so many years, instead of finding myself with my burden lightened and full of hope, I found myself with a heart continually growing heavy and my hope dying out. Managing my sin allowed for condemnation and guilt when I failed to manage them correctly. I was told in various ways that my failure to manage would separate me from God. I failed most of the time, so as one could imagine I felt I was never near God. He was always too far away from me.
Within the past four years I have experienced Jesus leading my life, lording over me. Through this I can confidently say I have become a follower of Jesus, maybe not a great one, but a follower nonetheless!
I have come to realize that the faith is not about sin management. It’s not even about our sins. It’s about who God is, who Jesus was here on earth and who He still is. It’s about following Jesus and becoming more Christ-like every day. It’s less about who He doesn’t want us to be and more about who He does want us to be.
When we are committed to intentionally work toward becoming the “little Christ” that He wants us to be, our sins will die away with our old self. Not magically, but when we intentionally work toward our goal and when we truly commit and intentionally choose to follow Jesus.
After all, if we are a follower of Jesus, we will follow Jesus right? If we are not honestly following Jesus, His examples, character, and commands, then how can we claim to be a follower of Jesus?
And if anyone has found that he or she is also caught up in sin management, ugh!, please, I beg you…stop. Get out. It’s no good. It doesn’t work. I tried it for most of my life. And I truly believe that it is a ploy from the enemy to keep us separated from our Lord and Savior.
If you want me to explain more about my personal experiences (and you are female) let me know. I will. I don’t have to be ashamed because I am not in the sin management business anymore! (If you want more information but are not privileged enough to be female, then I will refer you to a guy that trust and am certain is on the same page!)
To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy- to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 1:24
Love,
Sandra
When people ask when I accepted Jesus as my Savior I will tell them, “When I was five.” Then I will quickly add, “But I didn’t ask Him to be my LORD and Savior until I was 21. And I didn’t care to follow Him until then.” Please let me explain.
We see in Proverbs and in 2 Timothy how when a child is trained in the Lord’s ways he will always have that to come back to. My parents did a great job raising me in the church. I learned the Bible stories and I definitely had moments in which the Holy Spirit spoke into my life but I never reached a point to where I wanted to allow God to lead my life.
I left home to go to college and that was definitely a place for me to grow in my faith. I had an incredible godly young woman for a roommate who was such an encouragement and leader in the faith. I also had some very vocal godly professors. I attended church, read my Bible, and participated in “extracurricular God-stuff” but still only knew Jesus as a saving mechanism.
At the same time I said I was trusting Jesus as my Savior, I was seeking other ways to be validated whether it was through the people I was with, the activities I participated in, how well I did in classes…you name it. Nothing was fulfilling.
And one night in my dark little dorm room I fell on my knees weeping (for the first time in my life) and in between sobs cried out to God! Interestingly enough, I wasn’t crying out for Him to save me but to take my life and lead it. Guide it. Own it. That was the first moment in my life that I desired to declare Jesus as my Lord as well as my Savior.
My faith and my life have not been the same since! Not at all!
We all have sins that we struggle with. For me there were some that I just couldn’t rid my life of! I would hear sermons that would be encouraging and helpful in either strategizing how to abstain from participating or to confess and seek forgiveness.
In growing in my faith, I have been made aware of the fact that what I have been doing for so many years was trying to manage my sins- to lessen them, to speak them aloud, to hate them, and to fight them. And in managing my sins for so many years, instead of finding myself with my burden lightened and full of hope, I found myself with a heart continually growing heavy and my hope dying out. Managing my sin allowed for condemnation and guilt when I failed to manage them correctly. I was told in various ways that my failure to manage would separate me from God. I failed most of the time, so as one could imagine I felt I was never near God. He was always too far away from me.
Within the past four years I have experienced Jesus leading my life, lording over me. Through this I can confidently say I have become a follower of Jesus, maybe not a great one, but a follower nonetheless!
I have come to realize that the faith is not about sin management. It’s not even about our sins. It’s about who God is, who Jesus was here on earth and who He still is. It’s about following Jesus and becoming more Christ-like every day. It’s less about who He doesn’t want us to be and more about who He does want us to be.
When we are committed to intentionally work toward becoming the “little Christ” that He wants us to be, our sins will die away with our old self. Not magically, but when we intentionally work toward our goal and when we truly commit and intentionally choose to follow Jesus.
After all, if we are a follower of Jesus, we will follow Jesus right? If we are not honestly following Jesus, His examples, character, and commands, then how can we claim to be a follower of Jesus?
And if anyone has found that he or she is also caught up in sin management, ugh!, please, I beg you…stop. Get out. It’s no good. It doesn’t work. I tried it for most of my life. And I truly believe that it is a ploy from the enemy to keep us separated from our Lord and Savior.
If you want me to explain more about my personal experiences (and you are female) let me know. I will. I don’t have to be ashamed because I am not in the sin management business anymore! (If you want more information but are not privileged enough to be female, then I will refer you to a guy that trust and am certain is on the same page!)
To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy- to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 1:24
Love,
Sandra
27 September 2009
Meet Blaze!
Everyone, this is Blaze! My new buddy here in La Porte, he is about three months old and is just too darn cute!
The trip home in the car totally wore him out. He's getting used to riding with me everywhere now and I think he approved of my house after he sniffed out every corner of every room!
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